• Title/Summary/Keyword: qualitative assessment

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A Study on Physical Activities in the Teachers' Guidance Manual for the Nuri Curriculum of Four-Year-old Children -Focusing on Pre-service Early-childhood Teachers' Simulated Instruction - (예비유아교사의 모의수업을 통해 본 「4세 누리과정 교사용 지도서 신체활동」 분석)

  • Hong, Kil Hoe;Youn, Hea Ja
    • Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.177-200
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    • 2015
  • The purpose of this study is to analyze physical activities in 'Teachers' Guidance Books for the Nuri Curriculum of 4-year-old children' through simulated instruction of pre-service teachers and, through this, to help them better perform physical activities in their field education for early-aged. The subjects of the study were 30 sophomore students in the early-aged children's Education Department in their 2ndsemester of K University located in Gyeonggi-province. For the analysis of physical activities in 'Teachers' Guidance Books for Nuri Curriculum of 4-year-old children', a qualitative study was conducted and data were collected through informal interviews, reflective journals of pre-service teachers and 30 sessions of education assessment sports. The results of the analysis on the physical activities in 'Teachers' Guidance Books for Nuri Curriculum of 4-year-old children' are as follows; first, preliminary teachers of early-aged children understood the major goal of physical activities in 'Teachers' Guidance Books for Nuri Curriculum of 4-year-old children' as 'expressing.' Second, the teachers thought careful analysis is required on media such as 'video, illustration books, sounds, picture materials' presented together with physical activities in 'Teachers' Guidance Books for Nuri Curriculum of 4-year-old children.' Third, teachers pointed out 'activities that were difficult to understand for pre-service early childhood teachers' and 'improperly presented activities different from the title' as errors and problems in the performance of the Nuri Curriculum. Fourth, as for 'points to make improvement on', pre-service early childhood teachers' requested basic physical activities before the actual activities, the provision of proper actual materials, the necessity of active demonstrations of teachers and making a regulation for the situation of physical activities by early-aged children and teachers together. The results of the study illustrate that deep contemplation and judgment is required of the teachers before conducting physical activities of the Nuri Curriculum.

Optimization of the Flip Angle and Scan Timing in Hepatobiliary Phase Imaging Using T1-Weighted, CAIPIRINHA GRE Imaging

  • Kim, Jeongjae;Kim, Bong Soo;Lee, Jeong Sub;Woo, Seung Tae;Choi, Guk Myung;Kim, Seung Hyoung;Lee, Ho Kyu;Lee, Mu Sook;Lee, Kyung Ryeol;Park, Joon Hyuk
    • Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.1-9
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    • 2018
  • Purpose: This study was designed to optimize the flip angle (FA) and scan timing of the hepatobiliary phase (HBP) using the 3D T1-weighted, gradient-echo (GRE) imaging with controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPIRINHA) technique on gadoxetic acid-enhanced 3T liver MR imaging. Materials and Methods: Sixty-two patients who underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced 3T liver MR imaging were included in this study. Four 3D T1-weighted GRE imaging studies using the CAIPIRINHA technique and FAs of $9^{\circ}$ and $13^{\circ}$ were acquired during HBP at 15 and 20 min after intravenous injection of gadoxetic acid. Two abdominal radiologists, who were blinded to the FA and the timing of image acquisition, assessed the sharpness of liver edge, hepatic vessel clarity, lesion conspicuity, artifact severity, and overall image quality using a five-point scale. Quantitative analysis was performed by another radiologist to estimate the relative liver enhancement (RLE) and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Statistical analyses were performed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and one-way analysis of variance. Results: The scores of the HBP with an FA of $13^{\circ}$ during the same delayed time were significantly higher than those of the HBP with an FA of $9^{\circ}$ in all the assessment items (P < 0.01). In terms of the delay time, images at the same FA obtained with a 20-min-HBP showed better quality than those obtained with a 15-min-HBP. There was no significant difference in qualitative scores between the 20-min-HBP and the 15-min-HBP images in the non-liver cirrhosis (LC) group except for the hepatic vessel clarity score with $9^{\circ}$ FA. In the quantitative analysis, a statistically significant difference was found in the degree of RLE in the four HBP images (P = 0.012). However, in the subgroup analysis, no significant difference in RLE was found in the four HBP images in either the LC or the non-LC groups. The SNR did not differ significantly in the four HBP images. In the subgroup analysis, 20-min-HBP imaging with a $13^{\circ}$ FA showed the highest SNR value in the LC-group, whereas 15-min-HBP imaging with a $13^{\circ}$ FA showed the best value of SNR in the non-LC group. Conclusion: The use of a moderately high FA improves the image quality and lesion conspicuity on 3D, T1-weighted GRE imaging using the CAIPIRINHA technique on gadoxetic acid, 3T liver MR imaging. In patients with normal liver function, the 15-min-HBP with a $13^{\circ}$ FA represents a feasible option without a significant decrease in image quality.

The Fish Community and Habitat Analysis in the Bongseonsa Stream within Gwangneung Forest, South Korea (광릉숲 내 봉선사천의 어류군집 및 서식처 분석)

  • Wang, Ju Hyoun;Kim, Jeong Eun;Choi, Jun Kil;Lee, Hyuk Je;Cho, Yong Chan;Lee, Hwang Goo
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.105-115
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    • 2017
  • The present study is to understand the Bongseonsa stream in the National Arboretum fish fauna variation through comparison with historical data and to evaluate the stream health situated. We performed investigations over three times from April to September 2015. In the survey, 2,960 individuals which belonging to 22 species, 8 families were collected. Dominant species by number was Zacco platypus and subdominant species was Zacco koreanus. Seven Korean endemic species (Squalidus gracilis majimae, Microphysogobio yaluensis, Zacco koreanus, Koreocobitis rotundicausata, etc) were observed and showed a ratio of 36.4%. The community analysis revealed that the structure of fish community in the study sampling sites was instability in having dominance 0.79 (${\pm}0.15$), diverse 1.21 (${\pm}0.60$), evenness 0.58 (${\pm}0.15$) and species richness 1.49 (${\pm}0.83$). The values in the Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) was averagely 122.9 (${\pm}44.8$) in the Bongseonsa stream and this was showed to have favorable habitat surroundings. As a result of tolerance guild analysis, the total number of sensitive species and intermediate species were higher than tolerant species. Analysis was divided into A and B two groups of fiducial 12.25% in Cluster analysis degree of similarity between study sampling sites. Fish Assessment Index (FAI) was rated A and B grade in Bongseonsa stream that stream health showed favorable. However Wangsuk stream as a urban stream rated C grade and analysed the lowest grade in the whole study sampling sites. There was high correlation beteween FAI and various indexes, dominance, diverse, evenness and sensitive species and intermediate species.

Identification and Measurement of Hospital-Related Fears in Hospitalized School-Aged Children (학령기 입원아동의 병원관련 공포에 관한 탐색연구)

  • 문영임
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.61-79
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    • 1995
  • When children are admitted to hospital, they have to adapt to new and unfamiliar stimuli. Children may respond with fear to stimuli such as pain or unfamiliar experiences. One goal of nursing is to help hospitalized children to adapt effectively to their hospital experience. Accordingly, nurses need to assess childrens' fears of their hospital experience to contribute to the planning of care to alleviate these fears. The problem addressed by this study was to identify and measure hospital-related fears(hereafter called HRF) in hospitalized school-aged children. The study was conceptualized with Roy's model. A descriptive qualitative approach was used first, followed by a quantitative approach. This study was conducted from November 30, 1989 to January 12, 1991. The sample consisted of 395 hospitalized school-aged children selected through an allocated sampling technique in nine general hospitals. The HRF questionnaire (three point likert scale ) was developed by a delphi technique. The data were analyzed by an SAS program. Factor analysis was used for the examination of component factors. Differences in the HRF related to demographic variables were examined by t-test, analysis of variance and the Scheffe test. The crude scores of the HRF scale were transformed into T- scores to calculate the standard scores. The results included the following : 1. Forty-four items were derived from 188 statements identifying the childrens' hospital-re-lated fears. These items clustered into 14 factors, fear of injections, operations, bodily harm others' pain, medical rounds, physical examinations, medical staff, disease process, blood and X-rays, drugs and cockroaches, tests, harsh discipline from parents or staff, being absent from school, and separation from family. The 14 factors was classified into four categories,'pain','the unfamiliar','the un-known' and 'separation'. 2. The reliability of the HRF instruments was .92(Cronbach's alpha). In the factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the 14 factors ranged from .84 to .86 and Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the four categories ranged from .70 to .84. Pearson correlation coefficient scores for relationships among the 14 factors ranged from ,11 to .50, and among the four categories, from ,44 to ,63, indicating their relative independence. 3. The total group HRF score ranged from 45 to 130 in a possible range of H to 132, with a mean of 74.51. The fears identified by the children were, in order, injections, harsh discipline by parents or staff, bodily harm, operations, medical staff, disease process, and medical rounds ; the least feared was others' pain. The fear item with the highest mean score was surgery and the lowest was examination by a doctor. HRF scores were higher for girls than for boys, and for grade 1 students than for grade 6 students. HRF scores were lower for children whose fathers were over 40 than for those whose fathers were in the 30 to 39 age group, and whose mothers were over 35 than for those whose mothers were in the 20 to 34 age group. HRF scores were lower when the mother rather than any other person stayed with the child. The expressed fear of pain, the unfamiliar, the un-known and of separation directs nurses' concern to the threat felt by hospitalized children to their concept of self. This study contributes to the assessment of fears of hospitalized children and of stimuli impinging on those fears. Accordingly, nursing practice will be directed to the alleviation of pain, pre-admission orientation to the hospital setting and routines, initiation of information about procedures and experiences and arrangments for mothers to stay with their children. Recommendations were made for further research in different settings and for development and testing of the instrument.

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A Survey of Perceptions of Elementary School Teachers on the Small-Scale Chemistry (미량화학(Small-Scale Chemistry)에 대한 초등학교 교사들의 인식)

  • Kim, Sung-Kyu;Kong, Young-Tae
    • Journal of Science Education
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    • v.34 no.2
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    • pp.291-305
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    • 2010
  • The aim of this study was to survey the perceptions of the elementary school teachers on the smallscale chemistry(SSC) following its training session. The teachers participating in the survey were 266 teachers in the Gyeongnam province. They were given a questionnaire that focused on the nine areas of the SSC: Needs for the teacher training and its application, its benefits, issues of safety and danger as well as treatment of environmental pollution, its economic efficiency and the development of investigative skills. The designed questionnaire was checked by an authority, and the responses to each question were tallied and analyzed. The results are as follows. The biggest problems of the traditional experimental methods as rated by the teachers were, in the order of importance, the preparation time, the legal liability of teachers for the safety and accidents, financial issues, disposal of the experimental wastes and the lack of relevant data. Since most of the teachers had not experienced the SSC lab programs in the field, they responded positively to the questions of need for its introduction and training. The implementation of the experimental SSC lab programs should proceed in the following order: introduction into the textbook, teacher training program, after-school education and the invitation of instructors. The most useful materials for the SSC program were CDs, videos, books and various printed materials, in that order. The responses regarding benefits of the SSC program included its simplicity, convenience, time savings, diversity, qualitative and quantitative aspects, integration into the regular class and use of toys. In particular, the teachers mentioned the increased safety due to the small amount of experimental reagents needed and the durability of plastic instruments. The familarity from the use of everyday tools as well as easy access to and the low-cost of the instruments were other important benefits. The teachers in general rated the educational content of the program highly, but many also found it to be average. Some pointed out the lack of sufficient discussion due to the individual or pair groupings as a potential shortcoming. The potential for development of problem solving ability and improvement of skills was rated positively. The number of teacher who rated the development of creativity positively was just over the half. As for the area of improving investigative skills, many found its assessment difficult and confusing because of the lack of its systemic definition and categorization. Based on the findings of this study, I would like to recommend the application and a wider dissemination of the small-scale chemistry lab program into the elementary school science curriculum.

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Perceptions of Quality Nursing care of Patients and Families (질적 간호에 대한 환자와 가족의 지각)

  • Chi, Sung-Ai;Kwon, Sung-Bok;Park, Eun-Hee
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.247-275
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    • 1998
  • The purpose of this study was to offer the results of content analysis and qualitative study that explored the perceptions about quality nursing care of patients and families as consumers and to identify the implications of this study for quality nursing care management and research. The data was collected from 12 adult patients and 9 families who were admmitted at medical and surgical nursing unit of one university hospital in Seoul from October, 1996 to January, 1997. Research participants were asked to response "what do you think quality nursing care?" and similar questions during the interviews was performed. Data were analyzed using open coding and content analysis with frequencies and percents of attributes of quality nursing care. Attributes of quality nursing care and meaning of quality nursing care that patients and families perceived were explored. 1. The attributes of quality nursing care that patient and families perceived were categorized into 56 attributes. The highest response rate among the attributes was 'one's heart at ease' (76.2%), and the next high response rates were ranked in order 'consideration' , 'care about' (each 61.9% 'expert skill' (57.1%), 'deal with problem promptly' , 'information offer' (42.9%), 'intimate feeling' (38.1%), 'smile' 'service spirit' , 'do one's best' (each 33.3%), 'frequent visit' (23.8%), 'observe the time' (23.8%), 'direct nursing care' , 'speaking warmly' , give a hope' , 'address kindly' , 'a sense of duty' , 'good facilities' (each 19.0%), 'inquire after a patient health' , 'patient-centered nursing care' , 'showing an example' , 'professional knowledge' , 'careless moraly patient' , 'give encourage to patients' , 'good answer a question' (each 14.3%), 'do not imprudently' , 'do not disregard' , 'broad knowledge' , 'emergency treatment skill' , 'dependability' ,'consolation' giving a sense of security' , 'a self sacrificing spirit' , 'a sense of responsibility' 'hard - working', 'enough disposition of nursing staff (each 9.5%), 'improve patient's pride' and the rest attributes exhibited 4.7%, respectively. 2. The attributes that were identified in patients' data only were 8 categories, 'service sprit' (58.3 %) 'expert knowledge' , 'good answer a question' (each 25.0%), 'hard working' (16.7%), 'a warm character', 'professional attainments', 'do without reserve', 'satisfaction' (each 8.3%), 3. The attributes were identified to families' data only were 31 categories, 'speaking warmly' , 'direct nursing care', 'adress kindly', 'patientcentered nursing care', 'showing an example' (each 33.3%). 'do not imprudently' , 'do not disregard' , 'consolation', 'giving a sense of security', 'broad knowledge' , 'emergency treatment skill', 'dependability' ,'a self - sacrificing spirit', 'a sense of responsibility' (each 22.2%), 'improve patient's pride' , 'without discrimination' , 'show kindness' , 'individual nursing care', 'being with patient' , 'helping' , 'accuracy' , 'without any mistake' , 'love' , 'self - confidence', 'self possession', 'a self - denying spirit' , 'a sense of duty' , 'tighten discipline' , 'disposed room with similar patient to diagnosis', 'compensatory relationship between me dical team' , 'role of connection' (each 11.1 %). 4. The attributes of quality nursing care were integrated into 11 categories that they were 'patientcentered nursing care' (25.1%), 'expertise' (22.1%), 'caring'(18.1%), 'kindness'(11.1%L 'nurse attainments(10.1%), 'sincerity' (7.5%), 'good environment' (2.0%), 'effective organizational management', 'coordination', 'enough nursing staff' ( each 1.0%), 'satisfaction' (0.5%) were showed in the order of the highest rate. 5. The concept of quality nursing care were defined as 'give a satisfaction to patients by patientcentered care based on professional skill and caring with kindness and sincerity'. The description of the meaning of quality nursing care provided by this research participants, patients and families can provide important information for quality nursing care management, medical marketing, education and researches of this field. On the basis of the above findings the following recommendations are made: to suggest to utilize this results for patient care in practice setting, development of quality assessment tool in nursing care, repeat study by the same subjects and method, and to a comparative study by the same method to nurse.

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Retrospective Evaluation of Discrepancies between Radiological and Pathological Size of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Masses

  • Tian, Fei;Wu, Jian-Xiong;Rong, Wei-Qi;Wang, Li-Ming;Wu, Fan;Yu, Wei-Bo;An, Song-Lin;Liu, Fa-Qiang;Feng, Li;Liu, Yun-He
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.21
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    • pp.9487-9494
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    • 2014
  • Background: The size of a hepatic neoplasm is critical for staging, prognosis and selection of appropriate treatment. Our study aimed to compare the radiological size of solid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) masses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the pathological size in a Chinese population, and to elucidate discrepancies. Materials and Methods: A total of 178 consecutive patients diagnosed with HCC who underwent curative hepatic resection after enhanced MRI between July 2010 and October 2013 were retrospectively identified and analyzed. Pathological data of the whole removed tumors wereassessed and differences between radiological and pathological tumor size were identified. All patients were restaged using a modified Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system postoperatively according to the maximum diameter alteration. The lesions were classified as hypo-staged, iso-staged or hyper-staged for qualitative assessment. In the quantitative analysis, the relative pre and postoperative tumor size contrast ratio ($%{\Delta}size$) was also computed according to size intervals. In addition, the relationship between radiological and pathological tumor diameter variation and histologic grade was analyzed. Results: Pathological examination showed 85 (47.8%) patients were overestimated, 82 (46.1%) patients underestimated, while accurate measurement by MRI was found in 11 (6.2%) patients. Among the total subjects, 14 (7.9%) patients were hypo-staged and 15 (8.4%) were hyper-staged post-operatively. Accuracy of MRI for calculation and characterized staging was related to the lesion size, ranging from 83.1% to 87.4% (<2cm to ${\geq}5cm$, p=0.328) and from 62.5% to 89.1% (cT1 to cT4, p=0.006), respectively. Overall, MRI misjudged pathological size by 6.0 mm (p=0.588 ), and the greatest difference was observed in tumors <2cm (3.6 mm, $%{\Delta}size=16.9%$, p=0.028). No statistically significant difference was observed for moderately differentiated HCC (5.5mm, p=0.781). However, for well differentiated and poorly differentiated cases, radiographic tumor maximum diameter was significantly larger than the pathological maximum diameter by 3.15 mm and underestimated by 4.51 mm, respectively (p=0.034 and 0.020). Conclusions: A preoperative HCC tumor size measurement using MRI can provide relatively acceptable accuracy but may give rise to discrepancy in tumors in a certain size range or histologic grade. In pathological well differentiated subjects, the pathological tumor size was significantly overestimated, but underestimated in poorly differentiated HCC. The difference between radiological and pathological tumor size was greatest for tumors <2 cm. For some HCC patients, the size difference may have implications for the decision of resection, transplantation, ablation, or arterially directed therapy, and should be considered in staging or selecting the appropriate treatment tactics.

Evaluation of Image Noise and Radiation Dose Analysis In Brain CT Using ASIR(Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction) (ASIR를 이용한 두부 CT의 영상 잡음 평가 및 피폭선량 분석)

  • Jang, Hyon-Chol;Kim, Kyeong-Keun;Cho, Jae-Hwan;Seo, Jeong-Min;Lee, Haeng-Ki
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.6 no.5
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    • pp.357-363
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this study on head computed tomography scan corporate reorganization adaptive iteration algorithm using the statistical noise, and quality assessment, reduction of dose was evaluated. Head CT examinations do not apply ASIR group [A group], ASIR 50 applies a group [B group] were divided into examinations. B group of each 46.9 %, 48.2 %, 43.2 %, and 47.9 % the measured in the phantom research result of measurement of CT noise average were reduced more than A group in the central part (A) and peripheral unit (B, C, D). CT number was measured with the quantitive analytical method in the display-image quality evaluation and about noise was analyze. There was A group and difference which the image noise notes statistically between B. And A group was high so that the image noise could note than B group (31.87 HUs, 31.78 HUs, 26.6 HUs, 30.42 HU P<0.05). The score of the observer 1 of A group evaluated 73.17 on 74.2 at the result 80 half tone dot of evaluating by the qualitative evaluation method of the image by the bean curd clinical image evaluation table. And the score of the observer 1 of B group evaluated 71.77 on 72.47. There was no difference (P>0.05) noted statistically. And the inappropriate image was shown to the diagnosis. As to the exposure dose, by examination by applying ASIR 50 % there was no decline in quality of the image, 47.6 % could reduce the radiation dose. In conclusion, if ASIR is applied to the clinical part, it is considered with the dose written much more that examination is possible. And when examination, it is considered that it becomes the positive factor when the examiner determines.

Quantitative Assessment using SNR and CNR in Cerebrovascular Diseases : Focusing on FRE-MRA, CTA Imaging Method (뇌혈관 질환에서 신호대 잡음비와 대조도대 잡음비를 이용한 정량적평가 : FRE-MRA, CTA 영상기법중심으로)

  • Goo, Eun-Hoe
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.11 no.6
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    • pp.493-500
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    • 2017
  • In this study, data analysis has been conducted by INFINITT program to analyze the effect of signal to noise ratio(SNR) and contrast to noise ratio(CNR) of flow related enhancement(FRE) and computed tomography Angiography(CTA) on cerebrovascular diseases for qualitative evaluations. Based on the cerebrovascular image results achieved from 63 patients (January to April, 2017, at C University Hospital), we have selected 19 patients that performed both FRE-MRA and CTA. From the 19 patients, 2 were excluded due to artifacts from movements in the cerebrovascular image results. For the analysis conditions, we have set the 5 part (anterior cerebral artery, right and left Middle cerebral artery, right and left Posterior cerebral artery) as the interest area to evaluate the SNR and CNR, and the results were validated through Independence t Test. As a result, by averaging the SNR, and CNR values, the corresponding FRE-MRA achieved were: anterior cerebral artery ($1500.73{\pm}12.23/970.43{\pm}14.55$), right middle cerebral artery ($1470.16{\pm}11.46/919.44{\pm}13.29$), left middle cerebral artery ($1457.48{\pm}17.11/903.96{\pm}14.53$), right posterior cerebral artery ($1385.83{\pm}16.52/852.11{\pm}14.58$), left posterior cerebral artery ($1318.52{\pm}13.49/756.21{\pm}10.88$). by averaging the SNR, and CNR values, the corresponding CTA achieved were: anterior cerebral artery ($159.95{\pm}12.23/123.36{\pm}11.78$), right middle cerebral artery ($236.66{\pm}17.52/202.37{\pm}15.20$), left middle cerebral artery ($224.85{\pm}13.45/193.14{\pm}11.88$), right posterior cerebral artery ($183.65{\pm}13.47/151.44{\pm}11.48$), left posterior cerebral artery ($177.7{\pm}16.72/144.71{\pm}11.43$) (p < 0.05). In conclusion, MRA had high SNR and CNR value regardless of the cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage observed in the 5 part of the brain. Although FRE-MRA consumed longer time, it proved to have less side effect of contrast media when compared to the CTA.

Evaluation between 3.0 T vs 1.5 T MRI in Detection of Brain Metastasis using Double Dose Gd-DTPA (뇌전이 종양의 발견에 있어서 Doble dose Gd-DTPA를 이용한 3 T MRI와 1.5 T MRI간의 비교연구)

  • Chung, Woo-Suk;Kim, Hyung-Jung;Ahn, Chul-Min;Lee, Jae-Hoon;Hur, Jin;Cho, Eung-Hyuck;Chung, Tae-Sub
    • Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.101-108
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    • 2005
  • Purpose : Early detection of small brain metastases is important. The purpose of this study was to compare the detectability of brain metastases according to the size between 1.5 T and 3.0 T MRI. Materials and Methods : We reviewed 162 patients with primary lung cancer who were examined for TNM staging. After administration of double dose of Gd-DTPA, MR imaging was performed with SPGR by 3.0 T MRI and then with T1 SE sequence by 1.5 T MRI. In each patient, three readers performed qualitative assessment. Sensitivity, positive predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy were calculated in 3.0 T and 1.5 T MRI according to size. Using the signal intensity (SI) measurements between the metastatic nodules and adjacent tissue, nodule-to-adjacent tissue SI ratio was calculated. Results : Thirty-one of 162 patients had apparent metastatic nodules in the brain at either 1.5 T or 3.0 T MR imaging. 143 nodules were detected in 3.0 T MRI, whereas 137 nodules were detected at 1.5 T MRI. Six nodules, only detected in 3.0 T MRI, were smaller than 3.0 mm in dimension. Sensitivity, positive predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy in 3.0 T MRI were 100 %, 100 %, and 100 % respectively, and in 1.5 T MRI were 95.8%, 88.3%, and 85.1% respectively. SI ratio was significantly higher in the 3.0 T MRI than 1.5 T MRI (p=0.025). Conclusion : True positive rate of 3.0 T MRI with Gd-DTPA was superior to 1.5 T MRI with Gd-DTPA in detection of metastatic nodules smaller than 3.0 mm.

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